Ukuleles, Volumes, and Recorders
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Ukuleles, Volumes, and Recorders: A Workshop in Three Acts Drue M. Bullington Orff Schulwerk Elemental Music and Movement Specialist [email protected] www.druebullington.com Greater Cincinnati Orff Schulwerk Association www.acemm.us February 9, 2019 Act 1: Ukulele Ukulele Starter Kit: How to integrate the ukulele into the Orff Schulwerk classroom How fast and easy is it for students to go from holding a ukulele for the first time to strumming chords and singing? How about playing melodies? Reading tablature? Improvising? Accompanying other instruments and singers? Great questions! The Ukulele is able to be seamlessly integrated into your elementary, middle or high school classroom fitting hand in glove with the Orff Schulwerk Approach already at - - play there. Everyone's happier with a uke in their hands! © Drue M. Bullington 2019 All rights reserved GCOSA 1 “Ukuleles, Volumes, and Recorders” The User-Friendly Ukulele A Rationale for include the Ukulele into the General Music and Movement Classroom The Ukulele is an accessible fretted string instrument. It is an appropriately-sized instrument for younger, smaller hands with less strength in their fingers for shaping chords. The ukulele has easily transferable skills to guitar or other fretted instruments. It meshes seamlessly with the current trends in mainstream music education approaches. It can be an accompaniment instrument on drone/pedal, shifting and functional harmonies of I, IV, V (and beyond). The ukulele is entirely capable of playing simple, complex, or highly chromatic melodies. It is portable and can be easily played on the move. The ukulele also provides a concrete aspect of elemental music and movement that students can take with them beyond the classroom and into young adulthood and further forward through the rest of their lives. Individuals are more likely to play a fretted instrument later in life than a hand drum, tubano, barred Orff instrument or a recorder. The ukulele has a presence in folk and contemporary performing culture. The instrument is highly affordable. This is a fractional investment when compared to the traditional band, orchestra or classroom instruments. How to Get Ukuleles into Your Classroom Our school was awarded two grants for the “Ukulele Project.” One through our school district’s Education Foundation, CVEF (Oddly, this grant isn’t listed on their website!) and a second grant through a great organization called, Music For Everyone. A classroom set of ukuleles is cheaper than one Bass Xylophone! There are a lot of sources to help you write a grant that will get funded. Some pointers that work well are using action verbs in the what and how you’re going to do things, and then create an innovative project around your grant. With Project-Based and Passion-Based Learning initiatives starting to gain traction, these are perfect places to ground your project. Also, connect directly with a sales representative at the company from which you’d like to purchase items. Ask them to prepare a discounted “bid” or “quote” for you. It is almost always possible to receive a lower price which makes the grant money go farther. (Try several places as prices can vary dramatically.) Remember to include a 10% buffer amount for shipping and handling! This package would be an excellent choice if ordered in bulk on bid from Austinbazaar.com. Approx $85.00 each on bid . © Drue M. Bullington 2019 All rights reserved GCOSA 2 “Ukuleles, Volumes, and Recorders” A half classroom set is probably not a bad way to begin. This way students can work in partners. (15) This will limit the amount of sound that the teacher has to try to channel and control, and gives the classroom a healthy dynamic of a player and an evaluator. How to approach ukulele in the classroom? Give students hands-on experience with Soprano Ukuleles. Over several classes and weeks and months, introduce concepts in small incremental sessions which will lead to long-term skill development. Build in improvisation on the instrument and with other instruments. An adaptable process: I. Introduce the Ukulele a. Parts of the Ukulele b. “Head and Tuners” Song c. Rules about respecting the instrument- Clearly outline your expectations. d. Brief History of the Ukulele i. Originally from Portugal 1. Traveled to Hawaiian Islands via trade vessels- Original Portugese name: Machete da braça 2. Ukulele in Hawaiian means “Jumping flea.” e. Modern Examples of Ukulele i. Iz Kamakawiwo’ole, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” ii. Jake Shimabukuro, “Ukulele Gently Weeps” II. Strumming the Uke a. Loose right hand like a wet rag b. Up towards chin, down towards knee c. Connect with strings only on down. d. Use top of the fingernails to brush strings. e. Keep thumb relaxed and parallel with the fingers. III. C and C7 Chords rd a. Ring finger, 3 fret from nut on string closes to the floor i. Strum together. b. “Lime in the Coconut” Harry Nilsson. Play song, strum together (Chord never changes or the whole song). c. Pause. C7 chord is Pointer finger on the first fret of same string. d. Go back and forth between the two chords for practice. © Drue M. Bullington 2019 All rights reserved GCOSA 3 “Ukuleles, Volumes, and Recorders” e. Play the “Lime in the Coconut” again. Participants switch at their own speed and comfort level. Teacher circulates to help. IV. Hand Break a. Chord Charts i. Fingers are numbered. ii. Discuss the frets being like walls, and the space between them like the floor of rooms. Fingers push the string to the floor, not down on the top of the walls. Best to aim for the middle of the room. V. Using the C chord as a drone. a. Perfect for Recorder or barred instrument Improvisation i. Echo ii. Question and answers iii. Melodic “free verse” iv. Structured melodic phrases and duets. v. Accompany movement is an option—WHILE MOVING!!! You can substitute “New Year” or “School Year” or “New Class” etc. Very versatile. PDF of downloadable file. This quick introduction to 4 levels of body percussion is a great place to begin with any or all of the Orff Schulwerk media. © Drue M. Bullington 2019 All rights reserved GCOSA 4 “Ukuleles, Volumes, and Recorders” Add a simple chord drone, and a C chord on the ukuleles and we’re off! VI. Using the strum to teach meter a. Strong beats versus weak beats are easy to feel with a Ukulele. b. Simple duple, simple triple, and compound meters are easy to introduce with the Ukulele accompaniment patterns. VII. Understanding string numbers. a. String closest to floor is #1: A, then #2: E, above it, then #3: C, above that, and at the top closest to the player’s chin is the #4: G string. VIII. Continue to F chord. a. Play C7 Chord. b. Stack the left ring finger on top of the pointer finger which is in the first fret on the A string. c. Move the pointer finger up one string to the E string still stacked. d. Reach the ring finger up to the G string towards your chin, and toward right shoulder moving it into the second fret “room.” e. Practice this several times © Drue M. Bullington 2019 All rights reserved GCOSA 5 “Ukuleles, Volumes, and Recorders” IX. Two-Chord Songs a. “He’s Got the Whole World” b. Two groups, each one responsible for different chord. i. All sing and play assigned chords. ii. Trade iii. All play together all chords making the change. c. “Over My Head” i. Play song with recording. ii. Try to listen for chord change with different verses iii. “Iko Iko” by the Belle Stars 1. Give background on the song; Creole, Mardi Gras, First Nations. 2. Play song. Make up new verses. ( ← Printable PDF) d. Hand Break: Changing chords, and resting the Ukulele on the palm/finger joint during the change. A “How To” © Drue M. Bullington 2019 All rights reserved GCOSA 6 “Ukuleles, Volumes, and Recorders” X. Irregular Meter: ⅞: Story of Samiotissa Samiotissa Score from Greece a. “Samiotissa,” Kalamatianos from Greece. i. Each chord gets a Long, short short pattern. XI. How to read tablature a. Lines relate to the Uke i. Imagine the Uke is laying head to the left, and body to the right on top of a piece of paper ii. The strings are now transferred to the paper in this same order—A on top, E, C, G on the bottom. iii. Also, imagine a chord chart without the frets drawn on, rotated to the left 90 degrees and the strings are elongated. iv. Frets are numbered and used to denote where your finger goes to shorten the string to a certain length. v. When holding uke as you would to play it, roll it up so you can look at the frets. This is the same view as what is written on the tablature paper. vi. Read “Hot Cross Buns” from Tablature. b. Read “Ode To Joy” from tablature with chords. XII. The G Chord a. Begin with the C Chord b. Ring finger (RH) on the A string in the third fret “room” c. Then place the middle finger on the same string in the second fret “room” d. Place the pointer finger on the C string in the second fret “room” e. The shape should look like a triangle pointing toward the sound hole. © Drue M. Bullington 2019 All rights reserved GCOSA 7 “Ukuleles, Volumes, and Recorders” f. Practice strumming the G chord. g. Change from C to G chords. h. Play “Piko Piko” on C and G Chords. XIII. Three-Chord Song a. This is the gateway to a multitude of songs in our folk and contemporary cultures.